The mad bitches at CIRCLE.SQUARE.TRIANGLE have recently done an interview on my dear friend and BADASS roommate CLAIRE PERINI (also known as owner and creative director of the Lightbulb Lounge Room) check out the interview below:
Getting to Know Claire Perini
Claire Perini is the creator and head-honcho at the soon to be open Lightbulb Lounge Room. Take a second to get to know the brains (and the beauty!) behind what is set to be Sydney’s coolest new gallery.
Tell us about what you do at The Lightbulb Lounge Room.
A little combination of everything. I enjoy contributing to everything, watching over everything and getting involved as much as possible. My official title is the ‘Artistic Director and Founder’, which entails me being responsible for the visual communication/appearance. What The LLR is trying to achieve and solidifying the creative spaceʼs ideals, I am in an opportune situation being the founder as well. So whatever The LLR is trying to portray are my own ideas which makes it a lot easier to achieve.
With a degree in Advertising & Graphic Design, did you see your future in a more corporate setting?
I graduated with an Advanced Diploma Graphic Design and Advanced Advertising from CATC (Commercial Arts Training College) in The Rocks, it’s actually the reason why I moved to Sydney in the first place. It was the first time in my life I truly knew what it felt like to know “what I wanted to be when Iʼm older”, it was strange for me as I saw myself in either of two very different occupations one being Performance Art and the second was Law, in which I lasted all of one term before I realised that is certainly not what I wanted to do. It wasn’t until my darling mother suggested I give visual arts a go as I was constantly making political collages out of newspaper and designed type faces all over my Australian Politics book. She handed me the CATC advert, I applied and the rest is history! In terms of a corporate setting, it was never appealing, I much prefer being in a more intimate environment where I can have closer connection to the people I work with both clients and colleagues.
Has The LLR always been a dream? What inspired it?
The LLR hasnʼt always been a dream but the ideas behind it have. I never knew what I wanted to do and I am lucky that I even know now being so young. The Lightbulb Lounge Room itself first started off being an idea for a Bar/ Lounge for artists, inspired by a cafe from the DaDa and Surrealist movement where creatives would collaborate and discuss ideas. The idea initially was a bar where you could draw on all surfaces and share in anyway you saw fit, it then grew to that plus 2 other levels, a gallery and a studio above this. After time though I realised that owning my own bar really didnʼt interest me as much as the other two aspects. With my passion for providing and this new concept I came up with the idea to combine the two, as I described it “a youth centre for local artists”. The Lightbulb Lounge Room is basically that but with the target audience being 18+.
What inspires you?
In general I would have to say my inspirations are my past and present, things I have learnt, people who have shaped me into the person I am and my surroundings. History, nature, markings, peoples expressions, organic shapes, photography, writers, old television shows, these are all things that interest me. I like to incorporate aspects of nature or recycle ideas or physical items to create my own work. I am a fiend for design books, well books in general…no wait…all writing in general. My collection is endless from old National Geographic, Time, New Yorker magazines actually any old magazines, comics, authors such as Brett Easton Ellis and Nick Cave, then the multitudes on art and design.
Family and friends are my other inspiration and probably the larger one at that. My Mum’s attitudes on life, my brother Adams passion, Billy and Courtney are my support beams, and not that I knew my father but he inspires me the most. Its from the loss of him and the effect it had on the people who knew him that made me want to be someone who was driven, kind, creative and talented just like he was. The Lightbulb Lounge Room is my dedication to him.
Do you have particular artists and/or designers who inspire you?
If I had children that question would be like asking me which one was my favorite… I have so many that inspire me. In terms of techniques and the artists / designers that have inspired me it would be people like Alan Fletcher, Paul Rand, Salvador Dali. Artists from the Dada & Surrealist movement, then there are young local and international designers such as Esther Erlieck, Charlie Isoe and so many more.
Are you a cat or a dog person?
And I thought the last question was difficult! I donʼt like dogs so by default cats win. My family had probably too many in the duration of my childhood. I currently have neither, I do however have one radical bunny rabbit named Hunter (after the great Hunter S. Thompson). He is a new edition, but an awesome one. He resides at The LLR as of tomorrow, considering I spend more time there than at home!
What are your hopes for The LLR?
That it is enjoyed by others with as much enthusiasm as I have had creating it. That the feedback I receive for The LLR is optimistic for its future and it grows stronger with every person who gets involved be it friend, family, colleague or client. I look forward to each day I spend in The Lightbulb Lounge Room and I do hope that everyone else will too.
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